Marianne here: Lisa’s Xmas post is a little late due to me not being up to posting it last week. Better late than never though! Apologies to Lisa!

So the holidays are just around the corner, I’ve been gift shopping, sending Christmas cards, and books like a crazy person. But I finally finished today, and I’m broke (no new books for January, that’s for sure!). And besides that I made tons of Christmas cookies. When I was younger I would spend the night at my grandma’s house, and we would spend the whole time baking, playing board games, drinking hot chocolate, and just spending time with one another.

She lives in Germany, and now every Christmas, we only have a phone call to share. I love my grandma. She’s one of my closest friends, I could talk to her about anything for hours! I do miss her a lot, and I pray for her health every night. To make myself feel closer to her, I bake her old recipes, make hundreds of cookies, just so I can share them with friends, neighbors, my family, and just anyway that needs a little bit of holiday spirit.

Do you, do anything special with love ones? Or that reminds you of your childhood? What are you doing for the holidays this year?

I’m actually spending Christmas Eve with Josh and his family! I’m super excited, we’re having secret Santa (don’t tell anyone, but I got Josh’s mom), and tons of amazing food! On the 25th, Josh is coming over and were eating more food (yaaaay!), and sharing more gifts, between my mom, my brother, Josh and myself. I’m happy to spend the holidays with my family, I can’t wait!

If you keep up with Life with Lisa, than you would know that my dad recently deployed to Afghanistan, and he isn’t here to spend it with us. But we are planning on webcaming with him, unwrapping gifts with him!

No matter what you celebrate, I wish you a great time with your family and friends, delicious food; simply a awesome time.

Lisa

Alyson Sheridan (please, call her Allie) has well and truly hit rock bottom; caught for the third time (and this time arrested) for spray painting the door to her principal’s office. The falling off the rails thing is not all her fault. Her brother Christopher ran away and it’s like the ground has fallen from beneath her feet. Her parents are on auto pilot and Allie feels the only way to make them sit up and take notice is to misbehave.

Boarding school was not on her list of places to go. But no modern technology and a strict daily routine seem to be just what Allie needed to make her fall into line. She makes friends easily and manages to land the hottest guy on campus, much to the indignation of the Queen Bee, Katie. All is well, until a tour of a walled garden leads Allie and Jo into the path of a unidentified snarling beast. Questions start being asked and odd answers trigger Allie to do some closer inspection of the people who around her.

As the one liner on the cover says; ‘When everyone is lying, who do you trust?’

Night School is one of many YA series set in a boarding school to come out in the last 18 months. Cimmeria is a brilliant environment for mischief to take place with minimal adult intervention. Guidance is usually given by older students or prefects more than members of staff.

Christi sets her book apart by removing the super natural themes and replacing it with a strong web of thrilling mystery that has every character captured with no chance of escape.

Speaking of characters, I found most of them to be likable enough, though Allie’s quick turnaround from being a sullen emo type, to fitting in with the country club set has me raising my eyebrows a little. The transition was perhaps a little too smooth to be believable.

I got this book as an uncorrected proof and judging by the page count on goodreads, about 130 pages are edited out. I managed to get all 456 pages read within 2 days on the lead up to Christmas (with life getting in the way and all). This is a really quick read and I would be happy enough to reread it numerous times. I was thoroughly entertained.

Put this one your list for the January book haul and you’ll find it will help to keep the boredom away for a couple of days at least.

http://www.christidaugherty.com/page3.htm

Paperback, 320 pages

Expected publication: January 5th 2012 by Atom

Wendy’s known there was something different about her since her sixth birthday – a day also marked as the day her mother tried to kill her and accused her of being switched at birth. She’s never really believed she’s the monster her mother claims she is, after all everyone known good old mum’s crazy. Sure, she mightn’t seem to fit in anywhere, and has the ability to influence other people, but that’s better not being thought about. That is, until handsome Finn enters her life, he holds secrets to her past and the key to a place she might just truly belong. Maybe her mother wasn’t so crazy after all…

Once you enter Wendy’s world you soon realise just why Hocking has already become a self-publishing phenomenon, selling over a million books since April 2010 and why her work ended up the subject of a fierce world-wide publishing auction.

Hocking has taken elements of our favourite fairy tales and breathed new life into them, giving them a delicious new spin. Packed with a deftly woven, intrigue-filled plot and amazing characterisation, Switched will keep you enthralled to the very last. In fact, I often felt that I was inside the protagonists head right along with her and her decisions, issues and struggles felt like my own. There is a deep honesty about Wendy that draws you to her and soon has her as your favourite most un-princess like princess of all time.

The cast of characters are all marvellously complex in their own ways. Over-protective Matt will have you wishing for a big brother just like him. Tove’s the one to puzzle over and yet still never really break the surface. Rhys is the friend every girl should have, especially amid all the chaos. Kim and Elora, both cold and unforgiving and yet hiding a glimmer of light beneath their hard exteriors. And Willa, the bubbly and bright fresh of breath air. Then there is Finn, the commoner with the heart of a prince.

The love story is sweet and poignant and has you begging for a happy ever after no matter how long it takes. Book two, Torn will be released in February 2012 with Ascend just around the corner in April. So grab a copy and enter Wendy’s world. This series could very well be one of the biggest for 2012.

Switched- Amanda Hocking

Released 1^st Jan 2012

240 Pages

Tor

ISBN:978-4472-1028-3

Author info can be found at: http://amandahocking.blogspot.com/

Good Reading magazine has listed Burn Bright and Angel Arias on it’s cool books list. We LOVE that idea! You can read the whole list here.

Tell us why you’d like to win a copy of this book in the comments section and we’ll pick the best answer!